Celebrate the freedom to read with the Dane County public libraries!
- Attend our keynote event in partnership with the Wisconsin Book Festival
- Check out frequently challenged books or join a banned book club
- Drop in to a freedom to read celebration at a library near you
- Grab some free stickers and buttons supporting the freedom to read
- Advocate for free access to reading material in libraries and schools
More information coming soon about 2024 library programs!
Keynote speaker: Amanda Jones, author of That Librarian
Part memoir, part manifesto, the inspiring story of a Louisiana librarian advocating for inclusivity on the front lines of our vicious culture wars.
One of the things small town librarian Amanda Jones values most about books is how they can affirm a young person's sense of self. So in 2022, when she caught wind of a local public hearing that would discuss “book content,” she knew what was at stake. Schools and libraries nationwide have been bombarded by demands for books with LGTBQ+ references, discussions of racism, and more to be purged from the shelves. Amanda would be damned if her community were to ban stories representing minority groups. She spoke out that night at the meeting. Days later, she woke up to a nightmare that is still ongoing.
Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedo, and a porn-pusher; she has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike. Her decision to support a collection of books with diverse perspectives made her a target for extremists using book banning campaigns-funded by dark money organizations and advanced by hard right politicians-in a crusade to make America more white, straight, and "Christian." But Amanda Jones wouldn't give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance.
Mapping the book banning crisis occurring all across the nation, That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America draws the battle lines in the war against equity and inclusion, calling book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.
Banned Book Clubs
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison @ Sequoya Library | Thurs, Sept 19th 2pm
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison @ Cambridge Community Library | Tues, Sept 24th 6pm
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood @ Oregon Public Library | Thurs, Sept 26th 6pm
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky @ Belleville Public Library | Thurs, Sept 26th 6:30pm
- All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson @ Monroe Street Library | Saturday, Sept 28th 2:30pm
- All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely @ DeForest Public Library | Wed, Oct 2nd 12pm
- Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe @ Sun Prairie Public Library | Mon, Oct 7th 7pm
- All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson @ Stoughton Public Library | Tues, Oct 8th 6:30pm
- Drama by Raina Telgemeier @ Stoughton Public Library | Thurs, Oct 10th 3:30pm